EMPLOYERS AND APPRENTICESHIP
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1976.tb00041.x |
| Author | Alexander C. Ryrie |
| Published date | 01 March 1976 |
| Date | 01 March 1976 |
British
Journal
of
Industrial
Relations
Vol.
XIV
No.
1
RESEARCH NOTE:
EMPLOYERS AND APPRENTICESHIP
ALEXANDER C. RYRIE*
A
CURRENT
research project in the field of the education and training of craft
apprentices in different industries in central Scotland’ has provided the oppor-
tunity for discovering in some detail how
a
number of employers view the employ-
ment and training of engineering apprentices. Representatives of thirty-one firms,
whose apprentices had been selected through technical colleges for our study,
were interviewed on the subject of the training and education of apprentices. The
firms concerned varied considerably in size and type of work from very small
electrical and building contractors employing
six
to eight people, to small produc-
tion engineering or structural engineering firms employing twenty to
a
hundred
people,
to
foundry or manufacturing establishments employing fairly small
numbers of maintenance craftsmen amongst workforces of between
100
and
2,000,
to a nationalised industry employing several thousands. Some of the
responses given at these interviews can be reported here to emphasise the impor-
tance of the policies and requirements of individual firms in determining the
pattern
of
employment and training of apprentices.
1.
The Employment
of
Apprentices
The responses of the fms’ representatives seem to provide some support for
what Lindley* calls the ‘current production model of apprentice recruitment’, i.e.,
the hypothesis that firms engage apprentices with
a
view to satisfying current
production requirements rather than future skilled labour requirements. At first
sight this did not appear to
be
the case. In answer to a direct question
as
to why
they took on apprentices, the larger number of respondents (eighteen out of
thirty-one) gave the securing of skilled manpower for themselves in the future as
their primary reason; and eight others referred to skills which were specific to
their own operations and indicated their desire to train skilled men who would be
familiar with these operations. Subsequent responses, however, suggested that the
desire to train and retain their
own
future skilled manpower represented more of
a
pious hope than
a
careful policy on the part of many firms. For example, less
than half of the firms were able to claim that most of their apprentices remained
with them after serving their time. If the main concern of these firms were with
future skilled manpower such
a
situation would constitute a serious problem; but
in fact this did not appear to be the case. Furthermore, the usefulness of appren-
tices for current production was acknowledged by
all
but four of the firms. Three
in fact admitted that their work could not go
on
without apprentices, and
a
further
six
said they used apprentices as general assistants or unskilled workers. From
these responses it seems clear that while there was
a
general hope or intention that
apprentices would ultimately stay with the firm as skilled men, decisions as to the
number of apprentices engaged and the use to which they were put were based on
the current production requirements
of
the firm.
2
The Apprenticeship System
This being the case it is not surprising that most of the respondents expressed
general satisfaction with the traditional apprenticeship system in
so
far as it
still
obtains today.3 There was general agreement that
a
four-year period of training
89
*
Research Officer with the Scottish Council for Research
in
Education.
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